101 Uses for Gaffer Tape!

Everybody knows gaffer tape can mend everything except a broken heart*, but what else can it do?(OK, made it over 101 uses - but still on the lookout for more! Any suggestion can be
emailed to the webweaver.)

Proper Uses

Holding the Universe together

Fixing cables to the floor / roof / wall

Clothing

Insulation in cold theatres

Holding up stockings

Repairing an underwired bra if the wire pokes out

Fixing shoes with a hole in

Holding up a skirt when the elastic breaks

As an emergency belt

Replacing a broken watch strap

As an emergency bow tie (looks ok from a distance)

Covering Taps on tap shoes when they are not needed

Removing animal hair from clothes

Removing animal hair from animals

Creating stripes on ordinary clothing, making them look sporty and fashionable

On the Person

Wrapping around the end of Maglites to make them easier to hold in your mouth

Waxing my legs (Flooring tape is better)

On Stage

Providing black edges to tables and sets etc

Making a blast shield for pyrotechnics

To muffle clumping noises of shoes on stage

To fix props to shelves on a set that gets moved

Marking stage-centre on the stage (usually ignored)

Reparing holes in masking

Set Construction

When we run out of Black or White gloss paint

Holding the set together before putting the screws in

As masking tape for painting

Repairing the main curtain when it develops a rip

Fixing holes in badly moulded statues

Covering dangerous cracks in the floor

Over Stage

Preventing steel rope from fraying (stick some gaffer over where you are cutting the cable, cut in the middle of the gaffer, and it won't fray).

Backstage

For sticking the 101 uses of gaffer tape to the wall during a boring performance so so we can all have a good laugh

Gives the Technical Manager another thing to moan about ("This costs £5 a roll...")

Taping pieces of foam to sharp corners so that actors don't injure themselves

Wheel locks for flight cases etc

Use white gaffer to mark the edges of stage and steps during black outs

Use white gaffer to mark sight lines backstage

Holding your script together

Keeping animals quiet offstage

Making white shoes or socks black before the director notices

Covering logos on clothes supposed to be black

Lighting Crew

Holding down lighting plans after they have been rolled up for a while

Using the empty roll to protect wall switches for house lights etc

Replacement strain reliefs on all types of connector

Achieving greater tilt on projectors

Fixing gels to lights when we have lost the gel frame

If the roll is used lying flat, the hole in the center is perfect for holding a can of pepsi/beer so it doesn't get knocked over the lighting desk

Labelling lighting desks

Marking on stage where lights are to be focussed

Taping down a packet of sweets so they don't go missing

Sound Crew

Patching holes in loudspeaker drivers

Making belts for radio mics

Taping radio mic beltpacks to the small of an actors back

Achieving greater angling with monitor wedges

When used on drums can help prevent them ringing

Holding your headset together

Making apple eating sound effects (wrap it around the palm of your hands, press your hands together and then seperate them)

Fixing positions of microphone stands

Holding all sorts of cable connections together

To play vinyl backward on technics 1200's (place roll of gaffer on turntable, place record lined up carefully on gaffer, turn stylus upside down and reweight tone arm, place needle on underside of record and listen to hidden satanic messages)

Wardrobe

Making inside pockets on costumes that don't have them

Giving ballerina's toes more grip

To provide shoes with traction

Making a waterproof jacket

Holding rods and other controls to puppets

Blacking out teeth

Creating false eyebrows

Front of House

Stopping gentlemen using broken urinals in the toilets (as seen in the Victoria Apollo)

Outdoor Usage

For fixing a large umbrella to the trunion arm of a followspot when doing outdoor events (as devised at Kenilworth Castle)

Home Usage

White gaffer tape can be used for writing reminders that I should get out more and meet real people

Keeping out unwelcome visitors: merely cover a window with gaffer and then when your light is on, people won't realise you're home

Holding up posters

For making a football (by saving all the scraps of gaffer)

Making an ashtray

For repairing the spines of books

Making a pencil case (combined with a zipper)

For colour-coding your car and house keys (available in over 15 colours) - stop trying to unlock the front door with your bike lock key!

In the tool shed

Wrap around tool handles to provide a better grip

Use gaffer tape to create the ultimate gardening tool: a combination rake/shovel/hoe

Holding together nuts & bolts that go together during storage

For picking up objects that I've dropped down the back of the bench or rack and can't reach (wrap the bottom of a stick in gaffer with the sticky side out, then go fishing)

Decoration

Using gaffer on a door instead of a name plate

Building a 'dust tent' to confine dust to one area of a room

Taping doors and windows closed to prevent draughts

Blocking out gaps of light in a dark room

Creating Christmas decorations (coloured gaffer is better)

Pest Control

A trap for ants

A cheap option for fly paper

Use gaffer tape on curtain cords etc to stop cats chewing them

Travelling

Taping your seat belt shut while flying (just in case)

Back up cycle clips

Tying objects to a roof-rack

Fixing a video camera to a boat

Waterproofing the cab of a truck (when driven against a low bridge in Marseille)¹

Masking scratches on the side of a trailer (try to get a black trailer)¹

Medical Uses

Miscellaneous Uses

For taping me to the pay and display machine outside stage door on my birthday, as the audience leaves (Made £3.48 in my gaffer-attached hard-hat though ;-)

¹ Thanks to Marijn Dubois, Brussels, for these uses.

* NOTE: There is some debate about this - there is evidence to prove otherwise...

There was a girl who was suffering from a broken heart. One day she discovered that her interest in Gaffer tape was shared by a colleague. Over discussing the intracacies of gaffer, they became better acquainted and are now happy together as a couple: Gaffer tape provided the emotional adhesive that she lacked in her life.